1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to sports exercise equipment. More specifically, it relates to a device that exercises muscles and improves performance in sports that require swinging an apparatus, such as a club, bat, stick, or racket, having an elongate shaft
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Sports swing training apparatuses that provide additional air/wind resistance are known in the art, though each has its own respective drawback. There are devices that include an airfoil on the golf club/sporting equipment but are fixed (i.e., non-rotational), devices that include an airfoil on the golf club/sporting equipment and can rotate about the club shaft but not the entire way around (360°) around the shaft, and devices that include an airfoil on the golf club/sporting equipment and permit 360° rotation about the club shaft but are overly complex. Referring to devices that have a fixed airfoil, examples include Rupnik (U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,918), Backus (U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,378), Kenney (U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,048), Smith (U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,148), Ruth (U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,825), Hernberg (U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,188), Reichenbach (U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,406), Barnette (U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,299), Hong (U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,850), and Namba (U.S. Pat. No. 7,118,490). Certain airfoils have been taught to be rigid, and other airfoils have been taught to be flexible; in either case, the airfoil can attach to the golf club, where the airfoil trails the golf club during a swing. Many of these references discuss a natural rotation of the golfer's wrist during a swing, but the airfoil remains in its fixed position along the club shaft during the entire swing.
Now referring to airfoils coupled to golf clubs and capable of having some rotation. Examples include Beutler (U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,683), Radle (U.S. Pat. No. 7,285,055), Celone (U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,762,929 and 8,202,204), and Roger (WO 2014/075150). Each of these references appear to allow only partial rotation of the airfoil about the club shaft (rather than 360° rotation). Examples of references that discuss 360° rotation include Aguirre (U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,344) and Koncelik, Jr. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,497,785). However, whereas Aguirre is overly complicated, Koncelik would appear to result in errors and entanglement, along with lower air resistance during a swing due to the airfoil being parallel the user's swing path.
Accordingly, what is needed is a device that allows a full, 360° range of motion around the shaft of the club, bat, stick, or racket to provide the sufficient air resistance for training no matter how a person swings the club, bat, stick, or racket. Additionally, the prior art fails to teach a support rod which runs parallel to the shaft of a club, bat, stick or racket and connects each end point of the device to provide rigidity. Also, the support rod prevents entanglement of the device around the shaft. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention how the shortcomings of the prior art could be overcome.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.